The days of picking your tattoo from a wall of pre-drawn designs are over. People are no longer restricted to a set of tattoos hung on the wall in a tattoo parlor. This may be different than many people’s ideas about getting tattooed. In the past, numerous movies and TV shows have portrayed the tattoo experience as very spontaneous. In these stories, a character suddenly wants to get a tattoo, picks a tattoo off the wall, and the tattoo artist makes it happen. They’ll come up some story about choosing the design to represent such-and-such. However, it’s still just a design off the wall.

While there is nothing wrong this this, there is an important different between flash (pre-drawn) tattoos and custom tattoos. With flash tattoos, people usually superimpose the meaning onto the design. Custom tattoos let inspiration and meaning inspire the design.

All of my tattoo work are custom designs. I specialize in taking your ideas and putting them together into a piece of art that flows with your body. Tattoos are permanent, they should be well thought out, well drawn, and completely customized to you and your personality.

Many people want to draw their own tattoo designs and might shy away from a quality custom tattoo artist. I would argue that this is actually a perfect time to find a great custom tattoo artist. I’ve had a great number of clients who have given me their own artwork. This gives me a chance to fully understand exactly what they’re looking for in their tattoo. I love working with my client, exploring their ideas, and giving them exactly what they’re looking for in a tattoo.

When looking for a great custom tattoo artist, you’ll want to find someone who is able to design your tattoo based on the shapes and curves of your body. This is extremely important to the final outcome of the tattoo, and unfortunately a step that many tattoo artists skip. You are not a piece of paper, and your tattoo design should not be treated as such. Everyone’s body is different: every crease, fold, and muscle impacts the look of a tattoo. It is important to always take the client’s body into account when designing the layout of larger tattoos. This either happens during the consultation (I will make a sketch of the body structure in the area that is being tattooed) or, for out-of-town clients, it can be done right before the tattoo session. Since all the artwork I draw is custom, it’s easy to make tweaks and changes to make the tattoo to work with the natural flow of the body and end up look absolutely amazing.

If you’re looking for a one of a kind custom tattoo design, make sure you take the time to research your custom tattoo artist. A tattoo is forever, so many sure you’re getting quality work from a talented artist who takes every factor into account. Check out my custom tattoo portfolio for some examples of my work.